The disclosure that the period for forensic scrutiny of US$9.5b in expenses racked up by ExxonMobil and its partners had expired without an auditing firm being appointed is scandalous and must be immediately remedied.
On entering office in August 2020, the PPP/C government made clear that the atrocious 2016 Production Sharing Agreement which had been extracted by ExxonMobil from the APNU+AFC government would not be renegotiated.
As disappointing and inexplicable as that decision was, the public then expected that the PPP/C government would scrupulously adhere to its obligations to scrutinise ExxonMobil’s expenses so as to ensure that they were legitimate and weren’t being improperly reclaimed as cost oil.
The government had firmly committed to doing this. The casual announcement earlier this month by Vice-President Jagdeo that the period had elapsed without a suitable auditor being found is completely unacceptable and risks an even greater leakage of revenue which should accrue to the country.
The responsibility for rectifying this obscenity now falls to President Ali who has not yet uttered a word on it.
ExxonMobil must be prevailed upon to extend the period for auditing the US$9.5b and the government must urgently retender the project.
Anything else would constitute gross dereliction on the part of the government and call into question its preparedness to govern the oil and gas sector in the interest of the people and the nation.
